1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to material hauling equipment and, more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to an improved gate and gate control assembly for semi-trailers wherein the gate control assembly selectively controls the movement of the gate assembly and thus the discharge of material from the semi-trailer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the construction of road beds, great masses of soil, gravel, and crushed rock must be picked up at the place of origin, transported to the road construction site, and deposited at the road construction site. Desirably the vehicles dump their load at the construction site as nearly as possible to where the material is to be placed on the road bed to minimize labor in spreading of the material. One conventional form of material handling equipment comprises a trailer drawn by a tractor. The trailer is provided with a hopper having a bottom discharge opening therein and a door assembly operably engaging the bottom discharge opening of the trailer for selectively discharging the carried material therethrough. Conventionally, the dump doors are activated by a hydraulic operator, and manual assemblies are employed to vary the size of the opening when the dump doors are activated.
While such material handling equipment has heretofore been widely employed, problems have nevertheless been encountered in the use of manual assemblies, such as manual flexisets, to control and regulate the opening of the gate assembly for the discharge of the material therethrough. For example, when using such manual assemblies problems have been encountered in that often a substantial quantity of material remains in the trailer and thus results in an ineffective dumping of the total load at the construction site. Further, many of the prior art material handling equipment do not allow operation of the gate assembly from the ground level. In instances where such ground control of the gate assembly is provided, problems have been incurred, such as the inadvertent discharge of the material by a bystander who becomes fascinated with the switches and palm push buttons that activate the gate assembly while the vehicle is unattended, such as when the driver has parked the vehicle for lunch at a truck stop.
Therefore, new and improved gate and gate control assemblies for material handling equipment, such as for a bottom discharge semi-trailer, are constantly being sought which are effective and efficient in operation, which substantially prevent inadvertent discharge of the material, and which will enable a full load of the material to be discharged without the use of manual assemblies, such as manual flexisets. Further, such improved gate and gate control assemblies desirably will be capable of both cab and ground control and enable an operator to perform a variety of functions using a minimum amount of mechanical parts and movements.